Magneto-optical defect center materials, such as diamonds, Silicon Carbide (SiC), etc. can have sensitivity for magnetic field measurement and enable fabrication of small magnetic sensors. The sensing capabilities of magneto-optical defect center material (e.g., a diamond nitrogen vacancy (DNV)) sensors may be maintained at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. Magneto-optical defect center material sensing allows measurement of 3-D vector magnetic fields. However, the application of a high power laser to increase the optical source output power can result in saturation of the photodetector circuit and the photodetector which, thereby, decreases the speed at which the magneto-optical defect center material can “reset” to a maximum polarization between an excited triplet state and a ground state.